One very special thing about Ramadan is Oriental desserts. Although they are available all year round, yet eating them in Ramadan has a very special taste.
My favorite Ramadan desserts are Baklava, Konafa, Katayef & Om Ali. Today, I share with you my favorite Baklava recipe; crispy, sweet with an amazing caramelized flavor from using brown sugar instead of regular sugar.
A foolproof recipe that can be prepared in the morning & served at fetar. You can substitute hazelnuts with any kind of roasted nuts you prefer or even use a mixture of hazelnut, pistachio & almonds.
BAKLAVA WITH NUTS, BROWN SUGAR & HONEY
Ingredients:
- 14 phyllo pastry sheets جلاش
- 1 1/2 cups roasted hazelnuts chopped بندق محمص مجروش
- 1/2 cup brown sugar سكر بنى
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon قرفة
- 3 tbsp honey عسل
- 80 gm butter melted زبدة سايحة
- sugar syrup cold شربات بارد
Directions
- Preheat oven at 180.
- Mix the hazelnuts, brown sugar & cinnamon together. Set aside.
- Butter the bottom of a Pyrex; large enough for the pastry sheets to fit & cover the whole bottom. If there are any extra pieces hanging, cut them with a knife.
- Place one sheet on the bottom of the Pyrex & brush it with butter. Repeat the same step with half the quantity of the pastry sheets.
- Spread the nut mixture evenly on the pastry sheet. Drizzle with honey.
- Cover the stuffing with one pastry sheet & brush it with butter. Keep adding & brushing pastry sheets until you finish the remaining quantity.
- Brush the top of the baklava with butter & cut into squares.
- Bake in a preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until the bottom & top become golden.
- Once the baklava is out of the oven, drizzle with the cold syrup.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes:
- You can substitute the hazelnuts with any kind of roasted nuts you prefer; you can even use a mixture of nuts.
- Keep the pastry sheets covered with a damp towel while working to prevent them from drying out.
- Don’t cover the baklava while it is still hot so that it doesn’t become soft.
- Baking the baklava in a Pyrex makes it easy for you to know if it became golden from the bottom or not.
- I am using a circular baking dish in the photo but using a rectangular dish is more convenient as the sheets are already rectangular.
- The brand I use for pastry sheets is El Sonbola.
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